Buying a house is fun, exciting and liberating!! But you also want to buckle down and know what's happening and you're doing too. We agents do a TON for our clients, but being armed with the right info to help the process (and yourself) along, you can actually make it a pretty smooth process.
There are a few key points every buyer should note. Here's a quick snippet of what I had to say, as quoted in an article published today in the US News & World Report:
"4 Things You Should Know Before Your First Buyer-Agent Meeting"
Nov. 6, 2015, 1:22 p.m.
Real estate brokerage is becoming an increasingly full-service profession – from acting as a source of market insight and information to helping in home selection and providing support before closing. But as much as agents can assist in the homebuying process, they’re also not your fairy godmother.
The best way to ensure a smooth process is to come to the first meeting knowing a few things. Arrive armed with the following knowledge, and your agent will have an easier time making your homeowner dreams come true.
Your actual budget. A key step to successfully buying a home is to first find a lender and receive preapproval on a mortgage. The preapproval amount that the lender offers will help you figure out the home price range you can afford and what you’ll be expected to pay monthly.
But be careful here, says Camille Swanson, a Realtor with Realty Executives who serves the Phoenix metropolitan area.
“The lender will go back and see things on a credit report and say, ‘Here’s what your liability is and here’s what your income is.’ What they won’t see is if you like to take lavish vacations, or you like to go to Starbucks every morning or if you have a gym membership. Things won’t show up on the report, [but] they still are part of your monthly spending and your disposable income, and they can still detract from your ability to buy a home,” Swanson says.
If you're buying a home anytime soon, whether it's your first or 50th, there's good info to take away from all the agents who were quoted. Read the full article here: http://realestate.usnews.com/real-estate/articles/4-things-you-should-know-before-your-first-buyer-agent-meeting/
Related Info:
October 2015 Phoenix Metro Real Estate Snapshot